This month has seen big progress for the boys in their attachment to us.  Shortly after our last update my mother passed away.  It was a hard time for me - but somehow a good time for the boys because they became more a part of the family as we went through the initial grieving.  I'm not sure why that is - I'm sure there is some psychological reason - and it was slight - but there was definately a softening in accepting hugs and less adament arguments when I said I love you to Charles.   It was as if being part of the changes in the family - made him more a part of it.

 

Last week we went to Canada to meet Daddy's family and again there was HUGE progress made.  All of the kids (Jennifer, Charles and James) were wonderful.  Charles actually HELD my hand in place when I put my arm around him as we were walking one day.  They loved Canada as it is more similar to Ukraine than Texas - weather at least.  There is a large Ukrainian population in Canada also so we went to the Ukrainian cultural village and Charles got to laugh at us trying to pronounce some of the Ukrainian words and speak a little Ukrainian.  All in all it was a wonderful bonding experience for all of us.

 

Yesterday Charles started taking missionary discussions.  We are hoping that he will be baptized soon - but that will be up to him.  A returned missionairy from Ukraine sat in and explained a few of the concepts in Russian to Charles.  It too went very well.

 

Today Charles is at his first birthday party for one of the boys from Church.  He was SO excited to be going.

 

James is a wonderful cuddly 5 year old.  He is what they call "anxiously attached"....which I THINK means that he is attached but still frightened that the attachment will go away.  His language is expanding so quickly.  When he came to us he had a few a few words in Ukrainian and none in English - now he carries on whole conversations.  He also is not as scared to have Charles out of his site.  He is fine to let Charles go with Daddy and he stays with Mommy - or visa versa.

 

They both start Soccer Camp next week.  School starts in a month.  Everything is going well.

Wow only four months!  I feel like they have been mine forever.  I think James feels that way too.  It is a tenious attachment he has - it will need to grow with time - but he is very definately attaching well.  He is getting better and better at communicating too.  Charles is slowly getting more sure of his place in our family.  He actually will give you a hug and kiss without TOO much coaxing now!   His communication is just amazing to me - although other people will ask my how in the world I understand him.  He gets his points across with a mixture of sign language and Ukraine and English.  He has not had a "meltdown" as we call it - in a month or so. 

It has been four months of doctors visits, home school, introductions to family and other things.  We have been very very busy - but blessed.  They boys are doing very well and so are our three other children.

 

We are very grateful for all of how this adoption has gone.  We read many stories of problems with the pre-adoption process, the adoption trip itself, experiences in Ukraine and post-adoption problems and stresses.  We had read books such as Adopting the Hurt Child, which also talked about challenges in helping the child become really ours.  And, of course, there was the usual apprehension about doing something we had never done before.  All of those were worse than our actual experience. 

Our pre-adoption process went very well (thank you, Heidi, Victoria, Oleg, Nastya, Julia, Jeff Doyle), very smoothly, even though we were trying to compress the time lines.  We were disappointed that we were not able to get a November/December date for our appointment at NAC, but even that turned out to be right in the circumstances.  Our trip to and from Ukraine was very smooth (even though we were very concerned about the cost of return tickets for the boys, until we spoke to the Lufthansa agent in Kiev), with a little time for sightseeing and mild winter weather.  Our treatment in Ukraine was wonderful (thank you to all the vendors and salespeople we met, and to the missionaries in our church).  And our adoption process was incredibly smooth and easy, from our initial meeting of Alex and Nastya, through the appointment at NAC with Nastya and Oleg, the trip to Sumy (Kcenya), all our time in Sumy (with Kcenya, Sergiy, Kcenya's teacher, wonderful Vladimir, the Internat Director and staff [and the hotel and restaurant staff, none of whom spoke any English], as well as the great Polish couple from Colorado, whose adoption was more challenging than ours).  Even our court hearing was more interesting than nerve-wracking.  The post-adoption stages in Ukraine went very smoothly and as quickly as we could want (Nastya, Julia, Dima and the US Embassy staff).  We got to spend the night IN the airport at Frankfurt, because we hadn't had the time to get transit visas for the boys, but, even though the airport chairs make really bad beds, it was still more of an adventure than a trial.  And, when we got back to Dallas, instead of being detained for leaving the country while my green card application was still pending, we were welcomed with open arms (whew!).

Since getting home, we have had some challenges getting the boys settled in, learning English and having their own room, learning our rules and expectations, getting to know their new siblings and cousins and grandmother, but nothing as bad as some of the stories we have read in the posts and blogs of other families.  The boys, especially James, initially had trouble with Sunday School at church, as it looked too much like the orphanage, but even that moved forward quickly.  The people at church and at my work both organized very thoughtful "showers" for the boys, spoiling them rotten with all sorts of things.

Our boys are truly ours and part of our community and family (Christy, John, Jennifer, Grandma, everybody at church and work).  We are very grateful to our Heavenly Father for directing us and those who helped us throughout the process, helping us to find the boys who were waiting for us and to know who they were in spite of being presented with books of literally hundreds of sibling groups, helping us (and particularly Daddy) learn how to communicate with them and be patient with them as they learned to be our boys.  We are grateful for His love and His grace, and pray that we will continue to serve Him and His church, even more diligently in the future than we have in the past.  We are grateful to everybody for their love and help, and hope that we can help others in the future as we were helped.

 

It has been two and a half months since the boys came home.  They are doing remarkably well. 

 

James is learning more and more words.  He really doesn't seem to have much of his Ukrainian language left.  He had a very limited vocabulary when he was in the Orphanage and has replaced almost all of the words (except "porsha"-- "later".....it's THE magic word to get him to move from one thing to another or one thought to another)  He is doing very well in school.  He can count to ten and has begun to understand adding.  He is learning his alphabet and how to spell his name.  He loves to play his learning games on the computer.  He also loves to go for rides in the car....especially with Daddy.  He is just adorable when he says his prayers at night - with Mom's help.  We are reading Charlotts Web for his bed time story.  His chores are setting and clearing the table and vaccuming his bedroom once a week.   He has a face that just lights up when he smiles and his brown eyes sparkle.  He is beginning to give hugs instead of just endure them.  He has somekind of Asthma that we are trying to control.  We have been to the Doctor several times for him.  Next week we are seeing an allergist and pulmonary specialist.  We also have to see a Gastro Dr. for his hepatitis.  To spite the fact that it seems he always has a runny nose and some trouble breathing.....between breathing treatments he has the energy of a typical five year old.....never ending!!! 

 

Charles' language skills are really amazing.  He and I communicate very well.  He has not lost his Ukrainian language - but has certainly learned English at an amazing pace.  We are working on reading - which he is --- of course --- still struggling with, BUT we are also working on 4th grade math and he is doing very well.  He actually told me that in Ukraine he was only in the third year but he is doing very well in 4th grade math so I have no intention of going backwards!!  He has started Boy Scouts and actually had a part in the last pack meeting.  We worked all weed on his memorization of..."I have a Canadian joke.  Give me an A....thank you"......  He was great!!  No really - he WAS.  He was well understood - didn't mumble - had great timing and even took a little bow afterwards!!  He has more chores than James.  Jennifer is very happy that part of his chores include helping with the dishes at night.  She and Charles actually split them.  He is a good artist.  We have a big poster on the wall of the school room that he has drawn of a snow scene in Ukraine.  He is having a harder time with the hugs and feeling loved.  Any time he does something that he feels he is being scolded for - he retreats - and tells us he is bad and he is going back to the Internat - that I'm not his Mom and I don't love him.  Of course we hold him close and assure him I AM his Mom and he is never going back tot he internat - but it takes a while - sometimes 45 minutes to an hour of very intense love to get him back to his bouncy animated self.  He has been able to tell me more things about his bio Mom and Grandma and his life before the internat.  Not much of it really matches what we were led to believe in Ukraine.   You can tell he really wants the love and hugs and attention that he is receiving - he is just not trusting it yet.  It is better than when we arrived - but we have a way to go.  He is a good boy though.  He did some things around the house - including helping Daddy mow the lawn - and earned the money for his bike.  He also got to go on an airplane ride with Daddy in a Cessna last week.  He  had a good time to spite getting a little air sick and being a little scared.   He did get a few pictures of the ground and one really good picture of an airliner in the sky.  I am happy to say that he likes GOOD music....classical - jaz - blues - big band/swing!!!

 

Well ----- off to give baths and say bedtime stories........

*From Daddy Charles)

 

Well, this is our second try at this entry - the first one disappeared into cyberspace.  Frustrating, considering we have been trying since we got home to do another entry.

 

We have been home about 10 days now, and things are progressing nicely.  The boys are settling in OK - we are homeschooling at least for the rest of this school year, as our primary focus is to get them sufficient English to function outside the family.  So, every school day includes English lessons - words and simple sentences right now for Charles (we have labels on most of the items in the house right now, so he learns the names and can read the lettering - Latin instead of Cyrillic), letters of his name right now for James.  Charles also does math and some geography and reading, in Ulrainian and English.  Charles is pretty much up to his grade level in math, but the other subjects are harder to judge without the language skills.  However, he really takes it hard when he does not do well at a lesson - devastated hard, tears and all - so we are working on helping him understand that everyone fails, that it is part of learning, that it is not the end of the world and we are not going to take him back to the orphanage.  James is also learning colors and simple words like please and thank you, hello and bye-bye - his accent is adorable!  He is usually shy around anyone outside the family, whereas Charles is quiet rather than shy.

 

We are also finding that, in spite of their older ages, it is really like having two toddlers at home, because EVERYTHING is new and unknown!  Not only language, but hygiene, table manners, general manners, please and thank you, yes and No - right now, everything is NO, even when they have no idea what they are saying no to, and they are still learning that No is not an option when Mommy and Daddy ask or say something.  We have had to have a couple holding sessions with each of the boys recently, in addition to James' lessons with timeouts, especially around eating and bedtime.  Charles tends to sulk and pout if he gets told no to a request, while James tend to just get bad-mannered or throw a tantrum.    

 

*From Mommy*

 

Heavenly Father chose the perfect boys for our home.  They are a wonderful blessing to us.  Jennifer and John are getting along with them really well and they boys are loving playing with their older brother and sister.

 

Home school is a lot of fun actually.  Charles is a smart boy and catching on to english quickly.  As Daddy said - he is devestated when he gets something wrong....but only if he has done it himself...as in a worksheet that I haven't sat with him while he works it.  If we are working on something together and I correct him - he seems Ok.

 

James loves his school time.  You should hear him say "bye bye"  it is the cutest thing you ever heard!

 

We have done a lot of doctors this week.  We had the blood drawn this morning.  I think there were eight vials for each boy.  Wow!  We took them to McDonalds afterwards to make up for taking them in the "machina" before they got breakfast.  Charles wanted to go home and eat breakfast.....Ok - I admit it - I introduced them to cereal. 

 

They are eating well - good at meals and great in between LOL.  Mostly fruit and cheese between meals - but they would eat constantly if we let them.  We are developing a rountine though - so a snack between breakfast and lunch - a snack between lunch and dinner - and a snack after dinner is the usual.  Charles has gained a little weight in the last two weeks.  James hasn't that I can tell yet.  They are constantly on the go and talking and exploring.   It is NEVER quiet here anymore - well between 7:00am to 9:00pm anyway.

 

We have been to church twice since getting home.  The first week James was having NONE of the childrens classes - even WITH mommy there with him.  This week he actually participated in the classes - although he never let me get out of arms reach.  Charles is doing very well in his classes.  I'm sure they will be much more fun for him when he learns more english.  He starts cub scouts this week.  They are not doing anything alone yet though.  We make sure we are with them at all times.

 

I think Daddy mentioned that we have had a couple of "holding" sessions with each boy.  James is bonding well in general.  He is working on a"no" and "listening" but in general I don't have any worries about him.  He has quit rocking himself and gives hugs and kisses and plays little games with us ... he also is constantly worried about where we are if we are out of his sight....so when daddy is upstairs - he needs to know "Where is Papa" or when Mama has run to the store - "Where is Mama".  Charles on the other hand is older and has been through more .... it is harder to convince him - will take a lot more than a couple of hugs and some banana - that we love him and will be here for him forever.  I know that he is happy to have a Mom and Dad and good home but he is far from bonded.  We had the strangest session in Kiev - he was telling us that we were not his mom and dad and he didn't love us and we didn't love him and we told him we did love him and we WERE his Mom and Dad forever and then we showed him is new birth certificate.  It was like someone shut off the water valve......all of a sudden everything was Ok and he wanted to know if he could use the computer.....it was the strangest thing I've ever seen - but it told me a lot about what he needs.

Everything is complete.  We visited the embassy today and have the boys' visas in hand.  We are on our way home tomorrow at 2:00pm.  BOY ARE WE GLAD!!!  We miss our kids something fierce!!!!

 

The medical exam was kind of a joke!  They looked in their ears and down their throats - felt on their tummys and checked their eyes and charged us an arm and a leg!  However - we did learn that James is 48 lbs and 3ft. 7 in (born Januray 21,2000 by the way) and Charles is 67 lbs and 4ft 7in (born Octobober 15, 1994 by the way)

 

The boys were our first referral and they are the boys we wanted - we didn't "settle for older kids".  We had actually come thinking we would adopt two boys under 5 - and we were shown a set of healthy boys in that age but Nastya caught site of Charles picture and mentioned what a good looking boy he was....naturally we glanced at the file AND it just seemed they were our boys.  We are SO happy with them.  It will be a challenge - they do have some orphanage behaviors that Daddy is struggling with.....*grin*......shoveling food so quickly James hardly breathes while he eats - is really the most annoying for him.  I think Charles mentioned in the previous post that James has had a couple of time outs because he doesn't believe NO.....time outs are a "sit" time - with either Mommy or Daddy sitting with him - but he just doesn't want to sit!!!  We let him up as soon as he sits and is calm for TWO seconds! LOL  It's working - at least with the light switches.  Charles is completely different than his little brother.  I have to make him eat unless it's junk food!!  CHIPS get eaten REALLY quickly.  He is a sweety and ready to help at any time.  As a matter of fact he has made our bed every morning while I'm fixing breakfast!!!  WOW.....NEVER NEVER NEVER have my older three made my bed!! LOL LOL

 

I wanted to address a couple of things that I've seen discussed on the adoption boards.  I want to stress to you that this is OUR EXPERIENCE....

 

First of all....dress....we dressed up.  Charles in tie and coat - me in a long black skirt and ivory sweater - for both the NAC and Court.  Both times it was noticed and appreciated - take that for what it's worth - but I would definately dress up rather than down.

 

It has been our experience that it IS what facilitation TEAM you use that matters.  We are using Oleg's team and have been really amazed at the way things have gone for us.  I never saw or heard a hint of anything being done that shouldn't be...I DID see that his team is experienced - knows people and procedures and especially in the region that was important to us.  I am a very "take charge" control freak kind of person in situations like this.  EVERYTIME I raised a question - the team was two steps ahead of me.  We met a couple that used an agency in the US and their facilitator was seldom with them and they had been in the region a week longer than we when we arrived - and unfortunately are still there.  I am sure there are people who have had positive experiences with other facilitators but I would never think of using anyone else.

 

Here is our timeline:

June 2 - Homestudy

July 2 - Sent in I600A

August 19 - Recieved I-171H

Sent Dossier - (Mid September....I don't have the date with me)

Registration Number Received - November 8

Apointment Date Received - November 20

Appointment at NAC - January 31

Adoption Final - February 11 (got to take custody of boys)

Flight Home - February 16 (got hung up because there was a WEEKEND in there!)

 

There are so many beautiful children here - So many wonderful sweet older kids in the orphanage that we were at.....

 

Ah well....time is almost up so we will post more on Friday when we are AT HOME!!!!

 

Penny

Well, we had court on Friday morning - the judge (the head judge, apparently, by the way) was very nice, only asked us about 4 questions, then asked us to wait outside for his decision - which took about 15 minutes, then the paperwork took another hour, it seemed.  The thirty days was waived (actually, it was only mentioned by way of the question "you ask to take the children right away?", to which we of course replied "Yes").  Then the boys had to go back to the orphanage - oh, they hated that!  They thought they were going to stay with us.  We then went back to the hotel for a couple hours, then Cinya picked us up to go first, to a government office to get the new birth certificates (with their new names on them, in Cyrillic), then to the notary for certified copies of the birth certificates, where the Director of the Orphanage met us, to sign a form that went with the certified copies, then Cinya's father (the lawyer) took the original birth certificates to get started on their Ukrainian passports and we went to the orphanage to get the boys.  Cinya's dad met us there and started working to get the boys released, even though it was now 4pm and the director was gone for the weekend.  Penny and Cinya went to the small children's section (about 2 miles away) to get James and give the head caretaker of that secion a gift, while I went to give gifts to Charles's group and "group mother" - whew! everyone was crying, especially the group mother and Charles' best friend, a little girl that will be adopted to France next year.  When I came out from that, Cinya's dad had pretty much got the paperwork done, so we were able to take the boys with us to the hotel for the night.

 

Saturday morning, we caught the 6am (that's right, 6am, and we were not the only people on the train!) express to Kiev, with Cinya, and were met at the train station by Nastya and her husband, who took us to the apartment (not the same one we had before - this one is bigger and nicer, with a dedicated bedroom and a full kitchen), closer to the NAC than before, not that that matters anymore.  In the afternoon, we walked to the supermarket, bought about 50lb of groceries, then got lost because I decided to take a different street to get back to the apartment!!  We eventually found it, pretty much by acident, but by then my arms were almost falling off - I haven't carried groceries that far for decades.

 

Today, we went to church, by metro, which was a BIG adventure for the boys, especially James.  It was good for them, because they got to see a larger ward, still in their own language - Primary was bilingual Ukrainian/English, because there are a lot of English speaking children in the ward here.  The weather worsened while we were at church, so after taking the metro back to our starting station, we took a taxi partway to the apartment (becuase I didn't know the address to give the cabbie), and got ripped off - a private taxi, without meter, who charged us 25gr to go about 5 long blocks (he actually wanted 30, but I had misunderstood when I asked him how much before the trip started - he held up 3 fingers and I thought he meant 3, not 30).

 

Tomorrow, we go for the emgration medical (have to pay USD100 each, but in grivnas rather than dollars, go figure) and should find out if we have UA passports.  If we have the passports, we can go to the embassy on Tuesday morning and fly on Wednesday, otherwise we will have to back everything up another day.  At that, we are ahead of the game, because we left Sumy before we had passports, having given Cinya's dad power of attorney to pick them up for us, so we could get started on things at the Kiev end.

 

The boys are starting to learn a few words, and a few other things - like No, for James.  He has already had two timeouts for ignoring No - and he hates them!  Charles is starting to use a few English words and attempting to communicate rather than grunt.  Ice Age and the Care Bears are getting a workout on the computer DVD player - thank goodness for the laptop!

 

See everybody soon!

 

We took Charles shopping today.  He gets a bit overwhelmed I think.  He will say something if I tell him exactly what to say. i.e..... "May we have 15 girevnas please Papa?"....for a car his eyes wouldn't leave when we were in the store.  But he is usually just very quiet.  His teachers say he is excited to be going with us.    He is a sweetie - I can't even imagine what he must be going through and I can't talk to him and won't be able to talk to him (at least have him understand) for a while yet.  It must be very lonely and scary.

 

James we KNOW can't wait to go home!

 

They will both be in court tomorrow with us.  Our appointment time is 9am.  Immediately after court we will get their original birth certificates and then begin the passports.  IF the passports are complete tomorrow - we will leave Sumy for Kiev on the 6:00 train - or the morning train Saturday.  Otherwise we have to wait till Monday!  Sinya and I said we should take the kids with us to get the passports so they could look sad and tell the people that they don't want to have to go back to the orphanage.  HEY!  Whatever works!!! LOL

 

We probably will not post until we get to Kiev.  We will be calling Jennifer and John though - so if you want updates...call them! (teehee)

On Monday we came in to update the journal - typed a long entry - and the internet went down......so we lost it all.  I'll see what I can do to recreate it.

 

It has been a very busy few days.  Sinya has been busy getting signatures and preparing everything for court.  Saturday we took the boys shopping.  We got each of them 2 pairs of pants - a couple of shirts - sweaters and underwear.  We got James shoes - but there were none to fit Charles so we will go back tomorrow.  We also got them coats.  The quality was very good but the selection was slim.  We will get more when we get home.  This will do them for the couple of days we have to run around Kiev and then get them home.

 

On Friday we took the Missionaries to dinner.  They are Russian speaking Elders and we took them to a Ukrainian resaurant.  Ordering was interesting.  They gave us directions to the small branch here in Sumy.  On Sunday we got to take the boys to church.  We arrived a little late because it is a huge production to get James ready to go outside.  They put him in several layers of pants and shirts and then a huge coat - belaclava (sp?) and hood, mits, snow boots etc.  He HAS to be sweating under all of that - but that is the way the bundle up all the children.  The small room that the branch meets in was very crowded - but they scooted over and made room for us and the sister sitting next to Charles made sure he knew where in the hymnal the song was and a little about what was going on.  They were pretty bored during Sacrament meeting - but livened up in Primary.  The Primary President seemed to have prepared the lesson especially for them - even though she didn't know they would be there.  She talked about the scriptures and taught how to find chapter and verse and about what Sacrament was and why we take it every Sunday.  She gave Charles a Book Of Mormon Stories book to take with him - in Russian.  It was a great day.  After church we walked to town and took them to lunch.  Then we walked back to where the taxi was scheduled to pick us up and had to take the boys back to the orphanage. 

 

They are very ready to come home.  Every time we leave at night James asks us if he is going home now.  It breaks my heart and Daddy is having a hard time hearing "Dom?" --- "home?"  Charles gets very quiet each time we take him back to his part of the school.  We had little parties for each of their classes (groupas) this week.  They had a good time.  Charles got to keep the camera overnight so he could take pictures of all of his friends. 

 

Monday we got to see President Yushchenko up close and personal.  We were about only 20 feet from him.  Our driver told us that "President of Ukraine - Yushchenko - at white house here in Sumy."  So we went and stood in the freezing cold for over two hours waiting for him to come out.  It was worth it because we were right in the front row and our translator (Sinya) told us what he said.  We were very impressed with his manner.  The people seemed to love him.  This is his home region and he was here to meet with all of the new officials of the local government.  At least in Sumy you can tell that there has already been some sweeping and positive changes with his election.

 

Well we are off to see the boys again.  I'm running out of inspirational things to do with them each visit!!!!  I'll be very glad when we can just take them home with us.

One thing you MUST know before coming to Ukraine.......pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way.....not even on the sidewalk! LOL  The good thing about that is that if you are being dropped off somewhere (as in the notary office or the internet cafe) you are dropped off right AT the door!! LOL LOL  The bad thing is you have to watch out for vehicles - even on the sidewalk.

 

We have had a great couple of days with the boys.  BUBBLES are a bit hit here - as are balloons.  We have a definate athlete in Charles.  He and Daddy played a little soccer yesterday and we did balloon vollyball.  He's got the moves!  I see a lot of running back and for to sport practice for us.

 

James is a smiling loving sweety!  He has some "orphanage" behaviors....doesn't want to let go of ANYTHING we give him and will eat what we give him immediately and quickly - but he is a cutie let me tell you! 

 

I am also so proud of John and Jennifer at home.  They are doing so well and being responsible for themselves while we are half a world away.  Thank you guys.  I love you SO much - and I can't wait to get home to you guys.

 

We have a definate court date next Friday.  Not Tuesday as we had hoped - but there has been a lot of changes in the government already since the election and it's taking a while to get it all running smoothly.  We are still doing MUCH better than some of the couples that have been in Sumy for several weeks waiting for signatures.  We have a wonderful Facilitator team and particularly Sinya who is working with us in Sumy.  She was born and raised here and either she or her father know EVERYONE - it has definately been helpful to us.  She is also just a pleasant person to be around - so that is helpful since she is with us almost the whole day.

 

We were able to take the boys shopping today....and to McDonalds, YUK - but they enjoyed it.  I will be very happy when we can unerstand one another.  It seems that we are begining to see personalities......James will throw a tantrum if he doesn't get his way - but usually if we can make him understand WHY we want him to do something he is fine.  Charles will sulk if he doesn't get his own way ---- and I haven't figured out YET how to get him out of it....but I think that will take communication.  He is 10 and I think he is thinking about the fact that he will soon leave his friends and travel far away with a Mommy and Daddy who he can't talk to.....maybe I'd be a little moody too hmmm?    Anyway - Charles (big Charles) is doing great at being a Daddy.  The boys wore him out yesterday morning! LOL  We get to see the boys in the morning from about 10:00 till 12:30 and then in the afternoon from about 4:00 to 6:00.  Tomorrow we will take them to church with us.  There is a small branch here in Sumy.  We took the elders to dinner last night and they gave us a Russian Book of Mormon for Charles.  Daddy wrote a little inscription in it in Russian and English last night.

 

So the schedule looks like this we think.

Friday (Feb 11) --- 9:30 am = court --- then run all over trying to get birth certificates / passports / etc.

Saturday - back to Kiev

Sunday - church in Keiv

Monday - physicals by the US doctor

Tuesday - Embassy meetings

Wednesday - Fly home

Thursday - Arrive home.......and collapse!! LOL

OH - Johnny.....James - the small one - LOVES cars and Charles - the older one - would LOVE to play with your playstation!   See you have something in common with your little brothers!! ROFL